Combined tooth brush and gum massager



Sept. 10, 1963 M. A. BIRCH COMBINED TOOTH BRUSH AND GUM MASSAGER FiledNOV. 30, 1960 INVENTOR MARJORIE ANDERSON BiRCH United States Patent3,103,027 COMBINED TOOTH BRUSH AND GUM MASSAGER Marjorie A. Birch, 225E. 73rd St., New York, N.Y. Filed Nov. 30, 1960, Ser. No. 72,707 1Claim. (Cl. 15110) This invention relates to toothbrushes and has forits primary object, the combination of a bristle tooth brush and a gummassager on the same handle.

A Lturther object is to provide a toothbrush having conventionalbristles =for brushing in the normal manner, with the addition of apointed elastic member for massaging the gingival tips of the gums andcleaning between the teeth.

A still further object is to provide a combination bristle tooth brushand elastic gum massage device in which the gum massage device extendsabove the plane of the tree ends of the bristles.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts thereof, as will fully appear by a perusal of thedescription below and by various specific features which will behereinafter set forth.

To the above cited and other ends and with the foregoing and variousother novel features and advantages and other objects of my invention aswill become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, myinvention consists in certain novel deatures of construction and thecombination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter moreparticularly pointed out in the claim hereunto annexe-d and more fullydescribes and referred to in connection with the accompanying drawingswhere- FIG. 1 is a bottom View of the tooth brushing and gum massagingdevice constructed according to this invention.

' FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional View taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan View or the brush.

FIG. 4 is an end section view of the brush, taken on the line 44 of FIG.1.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a modified form.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the modification shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of another modification.

FIG. 8 shows an elevational view of still another modification.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the form shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is an elevatioual view of still another modification.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the modification shown in FIG. 10.

Referring to the drawings in detail, numeral 10 represents the handle ofthe brush, having a head 11. In the form of the invention shown in FIGS.1-4, numeral 12 represents the still bristles, which may be natural orsynthetic. A rubber or plastic gum cleaner and massager 13 is mounted onsaid head 11 intermediate the stiff bristles 12. This massage 13 may bemounted at any desired location among the stiff bristles 12, but thepreferable location is adjacent the end of the head 11 and surrounded bythe stiff bristles as shown in the drawings. The base of the massager isenlarged and may be mounted in the bristle retaining portion in variousways,

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a preferred form being shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, where the large conicalbase has a flange extending therefrom around its periphery, said flangeand a portion of the large conical base being embedded in the bristleretaining portion, thus securely holding the massager in place, Due tothis method of fastening, the massage will not work loose and fall out,even with vigorous massaging of the teeth and gums.

It is to be noted that the massager 13 is conical shaped and has itspoint extending above the plane of the free ends of the stiff bristles1.2. This is to insure that the tender parts of the gums will be engagedby the soft massager 13 before the hard bristles contact the gums. Thusas the teeth are brushed in the normal regular manner the massager 13will engage the gingival tips of the gums, and enter between the teeth,cleaning and massaging at the same time. The inclusion of the rnassagerin the brush still allows the brush to be used in the same manner asregular bristle brushes, as. the soft plastic or rubber massager willflex easily and be depressed below the plane of the free ends of thestiff bristles when pressure is applied against the teeth, as in regularbrushing.

A modification is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. This shows a plurality ofrubber massagers 13 surrounding a central group of stiff bristles 12.The tips of the massagers are in the same plane as the tips of the stiifbristles, but the location of the softer massaging members will act toprotect the gums from damage by the stiff bristles and also give a gummassaging and cleaning action when brushing the teeth.

A further modification is shown in FIGURE 7. In this form the softermassage members 13 are conical shaped and located in the same positionsas the massage members in FIGS. 5 and 6, but with the exception that thetips of the massage members extend beyond the plane of the tips of thebristles 12.

A still further modification is shown in FIGURES 8 and 9. Thismodification shows the rubber massage members as being chisel shapedinstead of conical and positioned at to each other, to facilitate themassaging and cleaning of all gum and tooth surfaces. The angularpositioning of the massage members will insure that vertical andhorizontal areas of the gums and teeth will be reached. As shown in thedrawings, the chisel shaped massage members 14 have their edges parallelto the handle and the chisel shaped massage members 15 have their edgestransverse to the handle.

A still further modification is shown in FIGURES l0 and 11. Thismodification shows the chisel shaped massage members 16 on the outsideof the hard bristle members with their edges all in line with thelongitudinal axis of the handle and with each other. In this form, themassage members 16 are longer than the bristle members 12.

The invention may be embodied in other special forms without departingfrom the essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the presentembodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects merely asbeing illustrative and not as being restrictive, the scope of theinvention being indicated by the appended claim rather than by theforegoing description, and all modifications and variations as fallwithin the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appendedclaim are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

of the United States is:

A combined tooth brush and gum massaging device, comprising a handlehaving a bristle retaining portion on one end thereof, a plurality ofrelatively stiff bristles attached to said bristle retaining portion,the free ends of said bristles lying in a plane and a single, conicalshaped gum cleaner and massager being sharply pointed at one end andflaring to an enlarged cone base at the other end, said pointed endextending above the plane of the free ends of the stifi bristles, theenlarged conical base being embedded in the end of the bristle retainingportion remote from the handle and surrounded by said bristles, wherebythe pointed end protrudes above and is surrounded by the bristles on theend of the bristle retaining portion remote from the handle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

